(8/27) On August 26, a petition with over 1,043 signatures was presented to the City Manager, requesting that the Sewell Farm annexation, approved by the City Council on July 11, be subject to a public referendum vote.
The proposed annexation will change the existing zoning to an R-10,000 designation, meaning lot sizes will be approximately 10,000 square feet, or 1/5 of an acre in size.
A preliminary sketch of the development calls for 318 units – or homes - in the development, which has raised concerns from local residents over increased traffic and water use.
Given the impact of such a large development, a number of local residents believed that the voters of the town should decide the annexation question and not the council and started a petition drive.
Maryland State law, as it applies to the annexation process, allows 20% of a
municipality’s registered voters to petition to bring a question to a public vote. (in the case of Taneytown, that means ~ 1,000 voters.)
The city is now verifying the signatures. Once the requisite number of signatures has been validated, Maryland law takes over and sets a time line for the referendum vote to be brought before the City residents.
If the City determines the 20% threshold has not been reached, the petitioners still have two weeks to collect more signatures.
